We want to tell you about a few things we are working on this month:The Portland Police Bureau continues its efforts in educating community members about the dangers of speed racing. In addition to building awareness, we continue to conduct special enforcement missions and work closely with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.

Over the last month, extra resources from North Precinct, the Traffic Division, Air Support Unit and other local law enforcement agencies patrolled North and Northeast Portland. These missions have resulted in numerous traffic stops, citations, arrests and several vehicles towed.

PPB will continue to message to the community the dangers of speed racing in an effort to curb this illegal act.

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This month we also will be conducting enhanced Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants patrols to help keep impaired drivers off the road. These additional patrols will be sponsored with additional funds supplied from a grant by the Oregon Transportation Safety Division through Oregon Impact.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there is one alcohol-related fatality in the United States every 48 minutes. In 2017, there were almost 11,000 people killed in the United States as a result of alcohol-related crashes.

Drug-impaired driving is just as dangerous—and illegal--as alcohol-impaired driving. Officers will be taking a zero tolerance approach to all forms of impaired driving. Drink responsibly and remember buzzed driving IS drunk driving.

If you see an impaired driver, please call 911.

Despite the current pandemic and stay at home order, thieves are continuing to steal bikes. Typically this time of year, bike thefts increase because of better weather and more people out riding their bikes. With the stay-at-home order, less bikes are on the road. Therefore, now thieves are targeting the bikes that are in storage areas, basements and other places people park their bikes.We want to remind bike owners that using the proper locks and registering your bike are key to helping to prevent theft. Officers recommend using a quality U-lock and locking the frame to a good bike rack.

We partner with the National Bike Registry Project 529. Registering your bike is a simple process that involves documenting your bike’s serial number and your contact information. You can do so at project529.com/Portland.

Sometimes people do not even realize their bikes are stolen. If this occurs and the bike is recovered, officers would still be able to contact you. If you realize your bike is stolen, update its status on your 529 account so the community can help look for it.

This year the Bike Theft Task Force is seeing double-digit increases in bike recoveries. Officers continue to search for stolen bikes in the community and if registered, get them back to their owners. If they aren’t registered, they are given to the property room, where thousands of unclaimed bikes remain.

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Also during this pandemic, we continue to see an uptick in commercial burglaries.

If you are a business owner, take an assessment of your business and inventory all your equipment or retail property.

Remove any valuables from the storefront that are in view from the outside as much as possible, including small electronics, cash registers, phones, bank bags and other inventory. Do an external assessment and look inside your business to see if there is anything in sight. Remove all products from window cases and display cases.

Our officers have been employing different tactics in an attempt to capture commercial burglars. Some recent arrests were also made due to alert community members. If you see something suspicious, call 9-1-1.

The Police Bureau has a list of burglary prevention tips on its website at portlandpolice.com.